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Best of Missoula 2017

Full results from our annual readers' poll

We don’t know if you’ve noticed, but we have a lot of opinions here at the Indy. We know what we like—not that there’s exactly a monolithic we around here—and we know what we don’t. Just for instance: We don’t like people who lie and hit and have the initials…

No, sorry, wait, back up—that’s not what this issue is for. We get to do that every week.
You know what we do like? We like beer and clean water and dogs and the occasional cat and people who are doing their level best to make Missoula a more just and lovely place for us all to live.

cover illustration by Charlie Wybierala

But you know what we like maybe more than anything? Taking a break from our own likes and dislikes. Honestly? It’s exhausting having so many opinions—formulating them, interrogating them, deploying them, defending them, sometimes even changing them. You know what’s really fun? Shutting the hell up every now and then, kicking back, and checking out what someone else likes. Someone like you.
And that, when you get right down to it, is what we like best about Best of Missoula, this mammoth annual undertaking, the latest installment of which you hold in your hands. We’ve spent months working on it, refining the categories, counting the ballots, taking photos, selling and building ads, writing about the winners. It’s a challenge, no lie, and we’re usually pretty exhausted by the time it hits the stands, and if you’re kind enough to visit us at our Best of Missoula Party in Caras Park on July 6 and find us seeming a little wan for summertime Missoulians, well, that’s why.

But please understand, we’re not complaining. That’s for some other issue, some other week. This issue, this week, is for celebrating what you like best about Missoula. And helping celebrate that is one of the things we like best about Missoula. Thanks for making it happen, and thanks for giving us a chance to be part of it.
—the Independent staff